The (beach) party’s over as young call time on Club 18-30
FOR decades it was a rite of passage for millions of youngsters seeking drink-fuelled fun in the sun.
But now the fear of compromising photos of their antics being posted on social media appears to be putting millennials off Club 18-30 holidays.
Instead, increasing numbers are choosing more sophisticated breaks chosen for the opportunities they present for classy online photos.
Thomas Cook, which has owned the Club 18-30 brand since 1998, admitted yesterday it is ‘ exploring options’ for its future, including a possible sale.
It came after research found more than half of 18 to 25-year-olds think about potential social media posts when picking a hotel, in a new trend dubbed ‘ego travel’.
The tour operator found many now steer clear of holidays involving allnight beach parties, casual sexual encounters and bar crawls in favour of more refined trips.
The trend is being driven by the popularity of reality TV shows such as Love Island, in which attractive, suntanned young people flirt over cocktails in a luxury villa.
Such holidays are considered ‘Insta-friendly’ by young people using the photo sharing app Instagram.
Club 18-30 was founded in 1965, Advert: Club 18-30 in the 1970s originally as a way to filling up night flights to tourist destinations.
It boomed in the 1970s and 1980s, peaking in the 1990s when it was sending 100,000 people abroad every year, many for their first holiday without their parents.
Its raucous reputation was cemented with lewd advertising slogans such as ‘It’s not all sex, sex, sex – there’s a bit of sun and sea as well’.
In 1995, the Advertising Standards Authority banned some of its posters after almost 500 complaints. But the negative publicity did nothing to dent its popularity – in fact, the firm said its advertising campaign almost doubled bookings.
It even inspired a TV show, ITV’s Club Reps, which followed Club 18-30 staff working in resorts in Greece and the Canary Islands during the 2001 party season.
In July 2003, three Club 18-30 reps quit and two more were suspended after staging a sex show on a family beach on the Greek island of Corfu.
A month later, three reps were arrested for organising debauched bar crawls for up to 500 holidaymakers in the Greek resort of Faliraki.
Since then, Thomas Cook has tried to clean up the brand while offering more wholesome activities such as golf, spa treatments and diving.
Now the company is focusing on own-brand hotels and a Cook’s Club initiative offering young people good local food, music from renowned DJs and upmarket cocktails.
Its website says ‘ times have changed’, with a promise of ‘mellow music’ and cocktails put together by a ‘Berlin-based mixologist’.
The firm’s Remo Masala told The Sunday Times it was ‘leading the way in bringing a sense of urban cool to the beach’.
Thomas Cook is understood to be looking for a buyer for Club 18-30. A spokesman said that while it is committed to it for this summer, ‘we are exploring options for the future of the brand, which could include the possibility of a sale’.